Several Chinese Internet sites and parts of popular Web portals went offline Tuesday amid tightening controls that have already left mainland Web users without access to Facebook, Twitter and other well-known social networking sites.

At the direction this country is going it will happen here or be taxed everytime we want to use the internet. Obamma probably rushing to his advisors wondering who leaked his idea for America to the Chinnese.

Aha -- An opening in the Chinese world economic development domination armor!

Without free access to the Internet, ideas die, coordination ceases and research gets tough. If it really were "porn" that was being filtered, we know that it would hit enough valid sites that it would be damaging. But the stated target has nothing to do with it -- it is ideas that may damage the government control.

Frankly, I hope the Chinese government develops a "search" engine that has traps to quench any ideas counter to the leaders rule -- and sells it to every repressive regime in the world. In five years all of those clowns will be so far behind technically and thought-wise they will be irrelevant.

And to think that a company from China is looking at moving here to do business. Their Government will not allow them to use Google but they can move their business to Barnesville. Aint that interesting.

This will turn out to be a feeble attempt to control the socially progressive nature of its youth. It will not work because the creative and inquisitive minds of the latest generations will prevail as usual. The old die out and with it their fear that leads to this type of control. The change that we have witnessed in China over the last 20 years is astounding and is also unstoppable. The question is how much bloodshed is it going to take for the desires of the newer generation to cover come the fears of the conformist?